Insulate Attic Without Removing Flooring

Without ventilation moisture can accumulate and condense eventually rotting.

Insulate attic without removing flooring.

A finished attic should be insulated much like the rest of the house with insulation in the walls and ceiling. That means insulating the attic floor only not the walls and having vents in the roof. Start with the attic floor. Rather than insulating the whole home and potentially causing problems like excess humidity you can properly seal the attic of an old house.

Some common insulation methods can actually cause long term damage. However if you keep the storage weight to a minimum you may be able to build a storage platform above the insulation by attaching supporting beams to the sides of the trusses. How to insulate a finished attic. If your existing attic flooring isn t adequate for conversion to a living space all is not lost.

Plan to pull up the flooring and layer new. Stop using your attic for storage. Without removing the flooring you have the option of blowing loose fill insulation fiberglass or cellulose fiber over the top of the floor. We have a ridge vent that runs the length of the house and also installed baffles in the attic for more airflow.

If it is and you plan to provide heating and cooling to the finished attic space you need to remove. I know we will need to remove the old insulation which was only r 19 maybe and replace it. This of course would preclude using the area for. It may seem counterintuitive but while attic insulation is critical ventilation of the attic is equally important.

Roughly a quarter of the average home s heat is lost through the roof. It will trap the heat up in the attic and the attic will get even hotter than it would without insulation on the attic floor. But if the floor is covered in plywood you can t stuff enough insulation beneath it to do the job sufficiently not even in warm climates. Insulating the attic and roof.

Laying devil s advocate the case for removing the insulation on the attic floor aka extraction is that leaving the insulation on the attic floor will work against the spray foam insulation on the roof deck. Even easier you can also use a prefabricated attic floor kit designed specifically to raise the attic floor above the insulation. With a finished attic insulation must help keep the attic areas comfortable. The attic floor which is the ceiling of the living space below often already is insulated.

Attic insulation between roof trusses.